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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

I posted yesterday on one of the other threads that an 80+ acquaintance of mine had already been given an appointment for a vaccination next week.

And here's an extract from an email I got at work yesterday

This week, the Government has started to roll out the nation-wide Coronavirus vaccination programme. The first cohort of those eligible for the vaccine are those over 80 years old, residents in care homes, carers and frontline health and social care workers. Hackney residents will start to receive the vaccine from 15 December. People will be contacted by the NHS with information on how to receive the vaccine. Our frontline social care workers have been contacted already, and further details on the programme will soon be available for other frontline staff.
 
Cloo said:
It may be in part because it sounds like a lot may be down to local trusts and maybe there will be more local rather than national roll-out schemes. Which does make some kind of sense as obviously the needs of Dorset will be very different to those of Greater Manchester and so on, and it does sound as though more local approaches have worked better than national. One reason I was heartened to see our local trusts surveying people as obviously it'll be important to find out how far people will be willing to travel and to what venues so evidently they're trying to deliver in the right places at the right density.

But I know there are issues with the Pfizer being available in large batches and how that's got outside of hospitals.
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I saw something on the news yesterday (BBC rolling news or C4) with a number of those vaccinated in Scotland and it said they didn't have the figures for England yet.

I did see someone on another forum saying they'd just had the jab so it's happening. I'm just surprised that the government and their friends in the media haven't made more of it given that it's good news, bearing in mind the former have been laughably triumphal in bragging about the 'world-beating' track and trace.

I did wonder if there had been a problem, such as with storage or in the supply chain, so little is there in the media, when it's a good news story and would give encouragement to so many people.

Probably just the government being crap at media management as they are about everything else.
 
oryx said:
I saw something on the news yesterday (BBC rolling news or C4) with a number of those vaccinated in Scotland and it said they didn't have the figures for England yet.

I did see someone on another forum saying they'd just had the jab so it's happening. I'm just surprised that the government and their friends in the media haven't made more of it given that it's good news, bearing in mind the former have been laughably triumphal in bragging about the 'world-beating' track and trace.

I did wonder if there had been a problem, such as with storage or in the supply chain, so little is there in the media, when it's a good news story and would give encouragement to so many people.

Probably just the government being crap at media management as they are about everything else.
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I saw a report that did have figures. It's being done by a number of places and Trusts though, so no central place that collates numbers afaik, and it's early days too, mostly not really got going yet. It's definitely more organised than just grabbing an over 80 year old though.
 
oryx said:
I did see someone on another forum saying they'd just had the jab so it's happening. I'm just surprised that the government and their friends in the media haven't made more of it given that it's good news, bearing in mind the former have been laughably triumphal in bragging about the 'world-beating' track and trace.

I did wonder if there had been a problem, such as with storage or in the supply chain, so little is there in the media, when it's a good news story and would give encouragement to so many people.

Probably just the government being crap at media management as they are about everything else.
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A really huge deal was made of the first vaccines being administered. Huge press photo opportunity etc that they all made the most of.

So I dont really understand what you're expecting to see and hear on this front. I do not expect a daily running commentary on exact numbers. I expect fanfare when they hit various milestones, and plenty of media attention if/when there are supply issues.

Its an incredible large and long process, and daily updates would add little to the picture and would probably drive me nuts by amplifying the sense of just how long this will take. So I am quite content with less frequent upates, although I would not complain if we got some numbers once a week.

Also both the government and responsible sections of the media have been quite concerned with people inappropriately changing their pandemic behaviour long before vaccines will make any difference. So the government messages so far have tending to be a mix of nationalistic grandstanding, hope dangling, and caution because the vaccine can make a difference to some individuals this winter but is not expected to radically shift the parameters of the game this winter.
 
Greenwich is closing their schools from today, with the exception of key worker children and those with specific needs, is this the first local authority to go against the government on this?

Danny Thorpe, the council leader, said: “I’m writing this open letter to let you know the situation in Greenwich in relation to Covid-19 is now escalating extremely quickly and I have today been briefed by colleagues from Public Health England that the pandemic in Greenwich is now showing signs that we are in a period of exponential growth that demands immediate action.”

Writing to headteachers, Thorpe described the issue as “honestly one of the most difficult questions I have wrestled with during all my time as leader”. He underlined that Greenwich now had the highest rate of infection at any time since March. Schools have been told to move to online learning for the rest of the term from Monday evening, with the exception of key worker children and those with specific needs.
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www.theguardian.com

Greenwich schools to close after 'exponential growth' of Covid in London borough

Council leader demands immediate action after briefing from Public Health England
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Word I'm getting locally is that some parents are taking kids out of school to isolate so that they can celebrate the crimble / new year with at last some of their relatives. Other families are postponing until they've all been jabbed ...

Unfortunately, my local area now has a very, very high case rate - no news (yet) as to why that's happened. Rumours abound, but logic suggests three possible causes. One local employer with a largish workforce, but with a fairly wide "commute" zone.
Local secondary school(s) - also with wide commute zones, and a known infection spike earlier. And one of it's feeder primaries has had a few 'rona cases recently.
Our local cottage hospital has a large number of elderly patients ... but can't find out if that has had a jump in deaths.

Additionally, one of the busier local take-aways has had a f/t staff member catch the 'rona (and rumour suggests that they didn't fully isolate at once).

Result - I'm being even more careful on the infrequent times I leave my home. And concentrating on WFH ...
 
StoneRoad said:
Word I'm getting locally is that some parents are taking kids out of school to isolate so that they can celebrate the crimble / new year with at last some of their relatives. Other families are postponing until they've all been jabbed ...
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I'm getting the impression that as Xmas comes closer, the vaccines roll out and the current numbers rise, more people are thinking 'You know what, let's not risk it with mum and dad' - even my usually blase brother is saying that he's inclined to be extra careful because our parents should be vaccinated quite soon. I mean, it won't be this year, they're 70 and not super vulnerable, but maybe by end February is a possibility. Will have to wait until they get back on Thursday and see what they want - I think maybe just meeting in their garden which can be reached via a side gate.
 
The situation in London does of course have repercussions for everyone and not just those who live and work (back when jobs and employment was a thing) here. Each year at Christmas there is a big getaway and whilst it doesn't empty out it is noticeably a lot quieter over the period. With so many people leaving the heading of to various parts of the country this is going to be a massive problem, potentially.

If you're going to do what the government have decided to do and suspend restrictions for Christmas then you've got to give yourself a fighting chance of it not being a disaster. Tier 3 of course but I believe its too little too late Even just buying a week before Christmas by shutting the schools would save some lives. Very little gets done in the last week and loads of kids are off anyway at the moment.

I hope the local authorities ignore the government and take action because it will save lives.
 
Yeah, I don't get why they didn't just shut schools this week - as you say Teaboy , they're not missing out on loads of meaningful learning. If they're saying people can go to families, it might have cut risk. Then again, it could increase the number of people travelling. Still think a big shutdown in Feb, including schools, might be an idea anyway - slow business month, only 3 weeks of school to miss out on. Could improve things a lot while the first mitigations from vaccination could start becoming apparent.
 
souljacker said:
There are lots of people on my kids primary school facebook mums group saying they aren't sending in their kids after tomorrow so the whole family can isolate until christmas day. Makes total sense to me if I'm honest. They are usually just pissing about this close to xmas anyway,
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That's alright for those who can but a lot of families rely on schools for childcare while they work. Knowing the Tories they're probably seeing it from that perspective as schools going home early means people not going to work.
 
maomao said:
That's alright for those who can but a lot of families rely on schools for childcare while they work. Knowing the Tories they're probably seeing it from that perspective as schools going home early means people not going to work.
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Yeah, of course. I know it's not easy for everyone.
 
maomao said:
That's alright for those who can but a lot of families rely on schools for childcare while they work. Knowing the Tories they're probably seeing it from that perspective as schools going home early means people not going to work.
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Thats also one of the reasons why closing schools in a bad pandemic is a good idea. The disruption to adults of working age is one of the reasons closing schools helps suppress the virus.
 
BassJunkie said:
I would welcome a 'Vaccines given' "dashboard" that was updated daily. It would be an entirely good news number over which to obsess each day.

I understand though that this isn't that plausible.
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It will be a long time before that number reaches levels I could begin to describe as good news.
 
Numbers said:
Not surprising.

On BBC radio they were saying gyms can stay open, WTF.
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Well people can't exercise outside so easily this time of year and sedentary behaviour is a leading cause of ill health and early death so it's not completely unreasonable.
 
Tier 2 is a joke and Tier 3 doesnt go far enough, thats my opinion. Especially when some countries in europe that are seeing bad trajectories have realised that shopping is one of the problems, and are shutting non-essential retail.

Schools and non-essential retail should close, but those are things I expect the government to resist. Although never say never, I'm sure they are a last resort that even the Johnson government would do if they had run out of other options and things were still getting much worse.
 
elbows said:
Tier 2 is a joke and Tier 3 doesnt go far enough, thats my opinion. Especially when some countries in europe that are seeing bad trajectories have realised that shopping is one of the problems, and are shutting non-essential retail.

Schools and non-essential retail should close, but those are things I expect the government to resist. Although never say never, I'm sure they are a last resort that even the Johnson government would do if they had run out of other options and things were still getting much worse.
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They've just shut non essential retail in London and schools are closing on Thursday anyway.
 
maomao said:
They've just shut non essential retail in London and schools are closing on Thursday anyway.
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Unless I've ended up in a parallel universe and confused myself, non-essential retail doesnt shut in tier 3 so I dont know what you are referring to.
 
elbows said:
Unless I've ended up in a parallel universe and confused myself, non-essential retail doesnt shut in tier 3 so I dont know what you are referring to.
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Apologies. I was mistaken. Not sure what the difference between tiers two and three is then.
 
Hancock is talking about a new strain (or variant as he called it) and how cases of it are being picked up in the South.
 
And no I dont yet know anything of the science behind these new variant comments. Its something I would be tempted to go on about if I were in that position and needed a new angle for public health messaging that might get people to pay more attention and take things more seriously.
 
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